Schülerbewertungen von Unterricht an weiterführenden Schulen: Welche Faktoren hängen mit der lehrerseitigen Nützlichkeitswahrnehmung von Unterrichtsevaluationen zusammen?

This study builds on and contributes to work about the use of student evaluation of teacher performance. Although many studies have examined multiple forms of teacher evaluation, not much has been written about high school teachers’ perception of the usefulness of evaluations performed anonymously by students. This article provides additional insight by exploring factors contributing to Norwegian high school teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of evaluations. Structural equation modelling indicates that perceptions of the developmental purposes of the evaluation process and of clear communication from the school leadership, as well as acknowledgement of the students’ ability to evaluate, are associated with teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of the evaluation. Student ratings are often used for administrative purposes and tend to be underutilized for developmental purposes. Our findings suggest that feedback from student ratings can be useful in improving teaching practices by providing high school teachers with constructive feedback with which to improve the quality of their teaching. (DIPF/Orig.)Die vorliegende Studie leistet einen Beitrag zur Forschung über den Einsatz von Schülerbefragungen zur Unterrichtsevaluation. Wenngleich zahlreiche Studien vielfältige Formen der Lehrerevaluation untersucht haben, ist über die lehrerseitige Nützlichkeitswahrnehmung von anonymen Unterrichtsbewertungen durch Schülerinnen und Schüler wenig bekannt. Der vorliegende Artikel beleuchtet diese Thematik, indem Faktoren für den wahrgenommenen Nutzen von Evaluationen bei Lehrkräften weiterführender Schulen in Norwegen untersucht werden. Strukturgleichungsmodelle deuten darauf hin, dass die Wahrnehmung eines Entwicklungsziels beim Evaluationsprozess, eine klare Kommunikation der Schulleitung sowie die Anerkennung der Beurteilungsfähigkeit von Schülerinnen und Schülern mit der von Lehrkräften wahrgenommenen Nützlichkeit der Evaluation zusammenhängen. Schülerbewertungen dienen oftmals zu administrativen Zwecken und werden hingegen für entwicklungsorientierte Ziele bislang zu wenig genutzt. Unsere Befunde legen nahe, dass Schülerbewertungen einen Nutzen für die Unterrichtsentwicklung an weiterführenden Schulen haben können, indem sie Lehrkräften konstruktive Rückmeldungen zur Verbesserung ihrer Lehrpraxis bereitstellen. (DIPF/Orig.

Multimodal Young Adult Fiction and Reading Motivation

This thesis investigates two young-adult novels, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003), in light of how they can enhance reading motivation among young male readers in lower secondary school. By looking at previous studies on boys’ reading habits and their reading preferences, this thesis demonstrates how Alexie and Haddon’s novels can encourage reading motivation with focus on multimodality, the protagonist’s gender, humor, and genre. Furthermore, this thesis also discusses the novels’ relevance in connection to the interdisciplinary topics health and life skills and democracy and citizenship from the Norwegian LK20 curriculum for the English subject

Forskningskommentar: Hvor har den nye genforskningen brakt oss?

Er skoletapere genetisk forskjellige fra skolelys?1 Satt på spissen var det spørsmålet for en australsk studie om gener og utdanning (Martin et al. 2011). Forskerne undersøkte ikke mindre enn 2,5 millioner genetiske forskjeller (dvs. SNPer, se nedenfor). Jakten ga få resultater. Bare én av genvariantene hadde en statistisk signifikant, men svært svak sammenheng med utdanningsnivået til de 9500 individene i utvalget. Samlet gjorde den genetiske variasjonen rede for kun 0,2 prosent – to promille – av ulikhetene i utdanning

Does the socioeconomic context explain both mortality and income inequality? Prospective register-based study of Norwegian regions

Abstract Background Studies from various countries have observed worse population health in geographical areas with more income inequality. The psychosocial interpretation of this association is that large income disparities are harmful to health because they generate relative deprivation and undermine social cohesion. An alternative explanation contends that the association between income inequality and ill health arises because the underlying social and economic structures will influence both the level of illness and disease and the size of income differences. This paper examines whether the observed association between mortality and income inequality in Norwegian regions can be accounted for by the socioeconomic characteristics of the regions. Methods Norwegian register data covering the entire population were utilised. An extensive set of contextual and individual predictors were included in multilevel Poisson regression analyses of mortality 1994-2003 among 1.6 millions individuals born 1929-63, distributed across 35 residential regions. Results Mean income, composition of economic branches, and percentage highly educated in the regions were clearly connected to the level of income inequality. These social and economic characteristics of the regions were also markedly related to regional mortality levels, after adjustment for population composition, i.e., the individual-level variables. Moreover, regional mortality was significantly higher in regions with larger income disparities. The regions' social and economic structure did not, however, account for the association between regional income inequality and mortality. A distinct independent effect of income inequality on mortality remained after adjustment for regional-level social and economic characteristics. Conclusions The results indicate that the broader socioeconomic context in Norwegian regions has a substantial impact both on mortality and on the level of income disparities. However, the results also suggest, in a way compatible with the psychosocial interpretation, that on top of the general socioeconomic influences, a higher level of income inequality adds independently to higher mortality levels. Previous publication This article is a reworked version of the study 'Er inntektsforskjeller dødelige?' [Are income inequalities lethal?] which was published in Norwegian in Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning [Journal for welfare research], Vol. 13 (4), 2010.</p

Women on corporate boards: Key influencers or tokens?

This paper investigates how the increasing ratio of women directors on corporate boards is associated with decision-making dynamics, specifically the perceived participation and influence of the women on the board. We test hypotheses using a sample of 458 women on Norwegian corporate boards where the ratio of women directors among board members ranges from 11 to 100%. Overall, we find that women perceive that they have a high level of information sharing, a low level of self-censorship, and a high level of influence across the different ratios of board membership held by women directors. These results support the notion of women directors as significant influencers. However, the results also show that women directors perceive that they do receive more information and engage in more informal social interaction when the ratio increases, and perceived influence does also increase when the ratio increases

Er kvinneandel viktig for kvinners medvirkning og innflytelse i styrer?

I denne artikkelen studerer vi kvinners deltakelse og innflytelse i norske styrer. Vi undersøker hvorvidt det enkelte kvinnelige styremedlems deltakelse og innflytelse har sammenheng med kvinneandelen i styret. Vi spurte 458 kvinner i norske styrer om deres erfaringer, og fikk svar fra styrer der kvinneandeler varierer fra 11 prosent til 100 prosent. Vi har to hovedfunn. For det første opplever kvinnene i gjennomsnitt at de i stor grad deltar i informasjonsutvekslingen i styret, at de i liten grad sensurerer egne meninger, og at de har høy grad av innflytelse i styrene. Samtidig finner vi at økt kvinneandel bidrar til at kvinner erfarer høyere grad av informasjonsutveksling, mer deltakelse i uformell omgang utenom møtene samt økt innflytelse. Vi konkluderer med at økt kvinneandel i et styre styrker den enkelte kvinnes opplevelse av medvirkning i og innflytelse på beslutninger i styret

Fordelingsvirkninger av overføringer og trygdekutt blant alvorlig syke menn

Artikkelen analyserer inntektsutviklingen 1993–2008 blant menn som døde av sykdom i 2009/2010 mens de var i 60-årsalderen (N=4611). Et typisk forløp er at inntektene fra eget arbeid begynner å falle om lag ti år før dødsfallet og går etter hvert mot null. Bortfallet av arbeidsinntekter starter gjerne 5–6 år tidligere blant lavt utdannede enn blant høyt utdannede. Selv om en fatal sykdom begrenser deltakelsen i lønnet arbeid, vil nivået på samlet personinntekt ofte holde seg ganske stabilt ettersom velferdsstatens overføringer i stor grad kompenserer for nedgangen i arbeidsinntekt. De sosioøkonomiske forskjellene i muligheten for arbeidsinntekter når en blir alvorlig syk innebærer at reduserte ytelser for syke og uføre i særlig grad vil ramme lavt utdannede og føre til større sosial ulikhet i inntekt